My List

If you can listen to Country Music without your ears bleeding, listen to this song by Toby Keith.  (It's a Youtube video that opens in a separate window)

Good song, yes?  It always makes me sit back in my chair for a while.  It often makes my eyes leak a little.

I've mentioned before on this blog that, to get myself fired up to write all day, I like to listen to Eminem's Lose Yourself.  That's a good "fire me up" kind of song, expressing as it does a tale of sacrifice, of drive, of true gritty desire.  Then, at the end of a day of work, Toby Keith's My List does the opposite.  I can't listen to it, honestly, without thinking of all the time I've spent on things that weren't all that important, how much time we haven't really got left on the planet, and all the priorities I should be worried about. 

Life's all about balance, isn't it?  If you're going to be successful, you have to desire it.  You have to strive for it.  You have to sacrifice, and I suspect the truth is that the greater the success, the greater the sacrifice required. The problem is that if that's all you do, then you're missing out on the life you're trying to live, aren't you?

Life, after all, isn't really about what we achieve.  It's not about how much money we make.  It's not about how many bestseller books we've written.  It's about quality, about relationships, about people.

Then again, what we achieve, how much money we make, and how many bestsellers we've written all impact the quality of life we can afford to live, don't they?  One of the most-cited issues leading to ending relationships is financial problems.

It truly is a balance.

I won't break my back for a million bucks I can't take to my grave
So why put off for tomorrow what I could get done today....
Like go for a walk, say a little prayer, take a deep breath of the mountain air,
Put on my glove and play some catch.  It's time that I make time for that.
Wade the shore, cast a line, look up an old lost friend of mine,
Sit on the porch and give my girl a kiss.
Start livin'.  That's the next thing on my list.
(lyrics by Toby Keith)

- TOSK